As C.J. Stroud go through his sophomore slump, what's changes need to be made to the Texans offensive line?

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Welcomeboard, Welcome to another Space City Saturday on Sports Talk
seven ninety Dad Matthews Live and local h Town breakdown
of the world that matters to you, the Houston sports world.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
All these great Houston fans here. We love you all.

Speaker 3 (00:25):
So finish up on that to do list.

Speaker 1 (00:28):
Flute up the cooler because you can't drink in talk
sports all day if you don't start. Now bear me
in the eight This is Space City Saturday. That's insane.
Here's seven nineties Dad Matthews, and.

Speaker 4 (00:45):
Away we go here for Space City Saturday. What is
going on? Everybody? Dan Matthews here with you as we
go from now until noon. And you know it's funny
in that production. I mean most of the time in Houston,
a couple of the elements in there usually stick.

Speaker 2 (01:04):
Usually they hold one of them.

Speaker 4 (01:07):
Is you heard the lawnmower going? Yeah, not a ton
of lawnmowers going right now, and especially starting Monday until
about Thursday, that's definitely not going.

Speaker 2 (01:16):
To be the case.

Speaker 4 (01:17):
I think you're going to be doing maintenance of another
variety outside, like I don't know, maybe taking some old
towels or blankets and using some duct tape around some
of those, you know, valves outside and pipes and everything else,
because you don't want to have an unwanted plumbing problem
if indeed it does get too cold wherever you are

(01:39):
in the area, because yeah, we're gonna get our taste
of winter this week.

Speaker 2 (01:42):
So there's that.

Speaker 4 (01:44):
But the cooler element right there, you know, you hear
the ice going into the cooler, the beers in there,
everything else. You know, the bottle being popped right there
for you to be able to enjoy some goodness.

Speaker 2 (01:56):
Well, I mean that can still apply.

Speaker 4 (01:58):
I mean, you know, I think kind of like for
some hurricanes if they are of a very very limited
variety tropical storms, things like that. You know, you've probably
heard of the concept of a hurricane party before, which
I've got to be honest with you, until a few
years ago when that was brought up to me, I
was like, seriously, like, it's a natural disaster, dude, get out.

Speaker 2 (02:20):
Of there, Like, don't stick around for that. What are
you doing.

Speaker 4 (02:24):
But usually when it's the freeze whenever I've been around
freezes before in my younger days, yeah, that would usually
be the case. One of the first stops was, Hey,
let's go to this store. Let's get this because we're
gonna be hunkered down for a couple of days. Okay,
so there you go. You've got that still to your
ready avail. But anyway, we get going here, Dan Matthews

(02:45):
here with you, as we got a lot to get
into in terms of the Texans as well as even
the game's going on today. We'll talk about that here
in just a second. Of course, the Rockets lose last
night to the cell Takes one O nine to eighty six,
and even more news of a bad variety for the

(03:06):
Rockets in addition to the loss that I'm sure most
of you know where I'm going with that, So we'll
get into that here in just a second. But also
to the college football playoffs semifinals, they are set. It'll
be Notre Dame against Penn State in the Orange Bowl.
And the one that is of the most interest in
this area, of course, is the Texas Longhorns taken on

(03:28):
the Ohio State buck guys in the Cotton Bowl on
Friday nights. The point totals already out for both games.
I mean, Vegas is on top of those already. As
a matter of fact, if you go to pretty much
any single gambling odds websites. You can see that they
already even have. If it's going to be Notre Dame
and Texas in the next round, what the point spread
would be for that. If it's going to be Texas

(03:50):
and Penn State in the next round, same deal, and
then for any of the other combinations that can move
on to Atlanta to play for the national championship. But
stands right now, Ohio State opening a six point favorite
over the Longhorns and Ryan Days Club playing some good
football right now. So I don't think that should necessarily
be too much of a surprise to anyone.

Speaker 2 (04:12):
And I mean, I think we could agree.

Speaker 4 (04:13):
Too that Texas, of all of the teams that are
still remaining, has had at least the most resistant path
to get to this point because the opening round of
the College Football Playoff, all the teams who advanced, there
were none of those games that were ever in doubt.
Notre Dame against Indiana, not even close. Ohio State against Tennessee,

(04:33):
same deal there, Penn State against SMU, please come on.
But the Texas Clemson game, I mean, Texas kind of
had this swat that out a little bit, and they
obviously had to sweat out the Peach Bowl against Arizona State,
because well it went all the way to overtime and
Texas was pretty fortunate to make some pretty serious plays
late in that game to move on. And Ohio State,

(04:55):
both of their games that they've played so far to
this point have been real laughers. I mean, Ohio State
has unlocked some good things on the offensive end, and
they've been able to do what they've been able to do,
and they've also been playing some really good defense. So again,
Steve Sarkisian and the crew in Austin, they will not
have an easy time on Friday night, So we'll get

(05:17):
into that a little bit, and a couple of guests
with a couple of the topics that I just threw out,
we will have coming your way a little bit later today.
Both from my time yesterday with the Sean Salisbury Show
mentioned the Texans at the top of the show, and
we'll focus on them the majority of this hour because
I would say that even though the season is not

(05:39):
done and I'm not doing kind of a post mortem here,
not even closed, because the Texans have yet to play
a playoff game, they have yet to even get to
that point. But at least there's enough to look back
on so far and kind of judge this season, so
I guess we can kind of do that a little bit.
We'll at least dip our toe into the water, just
to tad on that. But Aaron will our very own

(06:01):
insider here on Sports Talk seven ninety as well as
his work with KPRC two. He joined us for his
weekly visit on the Sean Salisbury Show yesterday, so we'll
have that here in this hour.

Speaker 2 (06:14):
And as I just brought.

Speaker 4 (06:16):
Up the college football playoff, we will hear from my
good buddy Josh Pate from Josh Pat's College Football Show
with CBS Sports, CBS Sports HQ YouTube. He's all over
social media as Josh when it comes to college football
is one of the best voices in the business, and
we had him on the show yesterday, so we will
hear from him. Probably coming up next hour is when

(06:38):
we will bring on that interview and conversation we had
with Josh Pate. But so far covered Texans. Also haven't
talked about the games today, so when I get back
to the Texans, I'll bring that up. But the Rockets
last night, and of course you know just what it
looks like in the immediacy for the Rockets with some

(06:58):
of the news that came out yesterday. We'll touch on
that here in just a second. And then of course
the college football playoff, but the Astros and a report
out earlier this week that maybe another huge bat could
be coming their way. But I hate to go Adam
Wexler on you, and it's not even Adam Wexler doing this.
It's somebody else that I really trust in this market

(07:22):
that is telling you, yeah, probably not going to happen.
So we'll touch on that a little bit later on,
because if you follow who I'm referencing, that, of course
is Ari Alexander of KPRC two. When it comes to
baseball news and being a baseball insider, Ari, I think
is pretty much proven that he's pretty well connected in

(07:43):
that part of the game. So he had something to
say about the possibility of Anthony Santander being an Astro.
So we will touch on that as the show goes along,
and also to today. Got to bring it back because
it is one of my favorite wex talk about all
the time four point thirty on the A team every

(08:03):
single day. The signature segment, well, it's a signature segment
that at least has not had my signature for a while,
and we'll bring it back today. I hear voices because
there is a lot of good stuff from the sports
world that is at least row local, somewhat local at
least of local interest for another, and another one that

(08:25):
doesn't have to be local interest, because I think we
can all agree that we're not a huge fan of
one part of this equation, but we're a massive fan,
even though he's not so much a massive fan of
hours on this particular topic. And I think with that one,
if I kind of set it up as decently as
I hope I did right there, I think you know
where I'm going with that. So I hear voices will

(08:47):
be coming your way in the second hour. But the Texans,
of course, I mean, you know, just some questions to
answer for tomorrow. How much will we see of these
starters against the Titans. The Texans actually an underdog in
that game against Tennessee. Last I checked, they were a
point and a half underdog against Tennessee. Maybe that's changed

(09:09):
a little bit. Keep an eye on that and let
you know about that a little bit later on. But
that is the question with the Texans. I mean, you know,
we've heard Tamiko Ryans this week allude to the fact
that we will at least see them for some of
the game, and I know that it's also too. I mean,
the thought process out there is, why would you even

(09:29):
necessarily entertain that the only thing that can happen behind
this offensive line is CJ. Stroud gets hurts or anybody
else gets hurts. I mean, do we need to see
another hip drop tackle knock out Joe Mixon? I mean,
you know Nico Collins, he's come back, He's been effective
for this team. You want him to continue to be
effective for this team? That's a question. Then defensively, you're

(09:50):
edge rushers and how effective they've been this season in
Will Anderson Junior and also in Danil Hunter. Those are
very valid points. But you know it's all also as
you'll hear in the conversation here in about thirty minutes
with Aaron Wilson, you know, you've got your linebackers who
probably you're gonna be.

Speaker 2 (10:09):
Rocking with as your starters.

Speaker 4 (10:11):
If I had to guess going forward, I would probably
guess that Demiko Ryans would like to have the combination
of Christian Harris and as he's Al Shayer. But then
you know there's also the people, and I would agree
with these people as well. Henry Toto hadn't played his
way off the field, Like why isn't Henry toteou one
of those guys out there? And you're just being able

(10:31):
to roll some guys in there to give them an opportunity.
Nevill Hewitts, when he's been called upon this season, has
done some good things. But that's also I think another
reason why Demiko Ryans can be pretty He can be
pretty judicious tomorrow with how he uses his guys. And
given the fact that the Texans will be playing a

(10:52):
game the following week at home against an opponent to
be determined, we will find that out because we can
even find that out as soon as today, because you've
got two games of direct interest here in Houston. You're
gonna have the Ravens and Browns taking on each other.
That's coming up at three thirty, and then a little
bit later on you're gonna have the Steelers hosting the Bengals,

(11:16):
and both of those games are of direct interest because
let's just take the Ravens, they're taking on a Browns team.

Speaker 2 (11:22):
That is starting. I don't even know how many.

Speaker 4 (11:24):
Quarterbacks they've started over a long period of time. I mean,
I think it was in the forties if I was
hearing correctly from the guys on Fox Sports Radio the
other night talking about this matchup. But Bailey ZAPPI gonna
get the start for Cleveland against the Ravens, and the
Ravens believe are a twenty point favorites in that game.

(11:45):
It's not expected to be anywhere close. It's in Baltimore,
and the Ravens have everything to play for because it's
as simple as this. Baltimore wins, they are the AFC
North champions, they are the three seed in the playoffs,
so that means whoever is the sixth seed would come
to them, which as of right now, Chalk holds.

Speaker 2 (12:03):
That would be the LA Chargers.

Speaker 4 (12:05):
So you'd get the Hardball Bowl there in Baltimore for
that one, and you would have the Pittsburgh Steelers coming
here to Houston. But also too, for Pittsburgh and for
the Cincinnati Bengals, it's massive interest for both of those
teams because Pittsburgh number one, if they win, they would
be hoping for a massive Cleveland Brown upset win in Baltimore,

(12:29):
which since the NFL, anything can happen, but Vegas is
telling you that's really not likely to happen. So if
Pittsburgh wins, they at least lock themselves into the five seeds.
So that's the direct interest locally here, because then you
would know, no matter what, you're getting the Steelers and
you're getting the Texans next week. And with the Steelers
the cachet there with what they bring from a national

(12:51):
television audience, I think that the Texans would possibly have
a chance to get off of that three point thirty
Saturday start time. And we'll have to wait and see
who else is out there in terms of teams that
will be playing on the day that the Texans would
be playing.

Speaker 2 (13:06):
In the Wildcard round.

Speaker 4 (13:08):
But I mean, maybe I'm being a little bit of
an optimist here, but I think that's a chance for
maybe a Sunday Night's or I mean it's Sunday night.
Probably they would go with the hardball ball. I mean,
I just think that the storylines from that would be
enough for people to care to watch what happens in
that game, and you know, to with the Steelers, I mean,

(13:33):
maybe a Monday night could be a possibility for that one,
So just kind of spitballing out there just off the
top of my head. But not only the Steelers, it's
the Cincinnati Bengals. If the Bengals are able to win
and they would need some help, they would need some
help from both a Broncos loss and a Dolphins loss,
And the Dolphins still have the tiebreaker over Cincinnati because

(13:55):
of wins over the best win percentage in conference game teams.
So the Bengals are eight and eight, the Dolphins are
eight and eights, and the Broncos are nine to seven
at this point, Denver taking on a Chiefs team that's
going to be resting everybody, and the Broncos taking on
a Raiders team that at this point is just trying

(14:17):
to finish out the string.

Speaker 2 (14:19):
And the Bengals have been.

Speaker 4 (14:20):
Playing good football as of late, but their divisional record
not great two and three, so when today would finish
them up at an even five hundred. But that defense
where it wasn't necessarily even the offensive line that was
hurting Joe Burrow this season, it was the defense that
was hurting them. Because there were numerous times where you're
watching games you see it the Bengals are ahead by

(14:41):
a decent amount and then you go back and look
at the game later and you're like.

Speaker 2 (14:44):
Wait a minute, what they're losing? How did that happen?

Speaker 4 (14:47):
You know, the burrough start throwing interceptions, no defense started
giving up plays, and that's what allowed for that game
to go the way that it did. So the Bengals
fighting for their playoff lives, they would not be coming
here to he I mean, I think at this point
you're looking at a combination of either two ways of

(15:07):
this breaking down. Is a Steelers win today then you
know that they're coming here. A Steeler's loss and a
Chargers win tomorrow over the Raiders, well then you get
the La Chargers here in town. And got some thoughts
on that that I'll share a little bit later on
in the show of who necessarily I think would be
the better of the two matchups for the Texans going forward,

(15:28):
So we'll talk about that too. So that's what we
have here on Space City Saturday. If you want to
weigh in, you can do so. Like I said here
in the line's share of the ten o'clock hour, it's
going to be all Texans, so we'll do that. You
can jump aboard at seven one three two one two
five seven ninety. Once again, that's seven one three two
one two five seven nine zero. Because coming up next,

(15:51):
this is not the worst of times for Texans fans.

Speaker 2 (15:53):
We've been through a lot worse before.

Speaker 4 (15:55):
I'm going to take us back in time as we
revisit a similar somewhat situation for the Texans and how
things went going forward. We'll talk about that right here
as we get going here on a Space City Saturday,
Dan Matthews here with you until noon on Sports Talk
seven ninety.

Speaker 1 (16:14):
Face City Saturday continues on Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 4 (16:19):
Sports Talk seven ninety San Matthew's here with you on
your home of the Astros and the Rockets. Music like
this kind of makes me start thinking of Pool season,
you know my mind. I'm in Vegas right now. I'm
at Encore Beach Club or something like that. But it's
not exactly pool weather at this point, and it's not

(16:39):
going to be pool weather for this week, so hopefully
we can have that in the area sooner or rather
than later. But Dan Matthews here, the man responsible for
that music, Melvin Brown, is there and does a great
job with not only me but would Doug Pike show
on that. And Melvin is a huge theme guy when
it comes to music, so kind of like the game
that Doug plays. To play that a little bit later on.

(17:01):
All right, so let's you got the Loreian right in
front of you right now. Doc Brown's right there, flex capacitor.
He's got the door flipped up and he's telling you
get in. He's not telling you, Marty, it's about your
kids or anything else. You're not going back to meet
Marvin Barry, you know, Chuck Berry's cousin.

Speaker 2 (17:20):
Nothing like that.

Speaker 4 (17:21):
I'm just gonna take you back to two thousand and
ten because twenty ten had a lot of similar traits
to what this Texans season has because in two thousand
and nine, that was a Texans team that was the
most successful in franchise history up to that point. Remember,
that was a Texans team that kind of had scuffled

(17:41):
through the regular season. They lost some games that when
it was all said and done, you came back and
looked at it and said, man, if you just won
that game, we're going to the playoffs right now. I mean,
going all the way back to the season opener against
Rex Ryan and the Jets did not go your way,
and the Jets were the final team that got into
the playoffs that year. And remember that night Sunday night

(18:01):
football Jets and Bengals. You were watching and you were
seeing if maybe Cincinnati could go into the Meadowlands and
take down the Jets for a win that ended up
not happening. And a few of the losses here and
there along the way, Titans on Monday nights, the Arizona
Cardinals on the road. I mean, I think you can
probably just easily go back and look at some of
those games and say, gosh, man, if you just won that,

(18:24):
things are going a lot different. But anyway, heading into
the next season, the thought was, hey, we.

Speaker 2 (18:29):
Got the guys here, We're good to go.

Speaker 4 (18:31):
You know, Matt shops here, still got Andre Johnson, got
Tamiko Ryans, Brian Cushing. On the defensive side of the ball.
Things are good there. You know, the running game. We'll
see what this Arian Foster.

Speaker 2 (18:43):
Guy can do.

Speaker 4 (18:44):
You know, I mean, he showed some good things in
the limited action he got late in the season. Steve Slayton,
you know, he had a little bit of a fumble itis,
but you know, we can possibly get past that. All
of those things, and we get to the twenty ten season,
and while it started off okay, it did not end
up ending that way. I believe it was the first

(19:05):
game against the Colts. You have Connor Barwin turning his
ankle sideways. I know some of you probably just eating breakfast,
and I'm probably sure I've just sent in your stomachs
to a place that you don't want them to go.

Speaker 2 (19:14):
So I apologize for that.

Speaker 4 (19:16):
And then later on the season he had to meet
Oryans pop his achilles. I mean, there were injuries. There
was the Brian Kushing suspension, The defense never got on track,
and that was a team that went from being nine
to seven the previous season to being six and ten
the following year. It just seemed like it was one

(19:36):
thing after another. You know, the term Buzzard's luck. Texans
fans felt like they had Buzzard's luck that season, and
it was kind of looking around, of a, is Gary
Kubiak the right guy for the job?

Speaker 2 (19:47):
Do we want to keep this guy around? None of
those questions, at least.

Speaker 4 (19:51):
By people who should be taken seriously, are being asked
about to meet Oryan's not even close. I mean, especially
to your division winner. For the second straight year, while
the season has not gone the way that you hoped
that it would go. Again, it's not even worth entertaining that.
And if anybody thinks I'm opening the door to that.

Speaker 2 (20:11):
I am not.

Speaker 4 (20:12):
So there's that, But I mean, on the defensive end
is a little bit of a comparison because Frank Bush
was known as a guy that was very aggressive with
his blitzes we get after opposing quarterbacks and would be
able to make it tough on opposing offenses on game day.
And that was not the case in twenty ten. So

(20:33):
what did Gary Kubiak and the Texans do. They decided,
we've got to upgrade that side of the football and
we've got to make a change. So they let him,
Robert Sala, a few other coaches go, and that brought
in Wade Phillips, and you were able to completely transformationally
fix your defense. You draft JJ Watt, you draft Brooks

(20:55):
red and the following season the Texans had one of
the best defenses in the league and you were able
to make the moves necessary where The Texans were aggressive
on the free agent and trade front this last offseason,
more aggressive than they've been in some time. But also,
I mean, you still realize that there are some deficiencies

(21:15):
with this team. The polar opposite of this comparison is
the offensive side of the football, and primarily the offensive line,
and the Texans had some things to fix that season.
Flipping it back over to twenty ten, the defense the
secondary was horrifically bad awful. You had Kareem Jackson who
looked like he was completely swimming out there. And it

(21:37):
wasn't until the next season when Wade Phillips got here
and with Vance Joseph's tutelage and some of the coaching
changes that you saw Kareem Jackson become the player that
I think people looked around and said, oh, that's what
Rick Smith saw on him. Okay, good, I'm good with it.
You bring in Daniel Manning, you bring in Jonathan Joseph,
who became an absolute cornerstone for this organization, and somebody

(21:58):
that was counted on not only the leader of the secondary,
but one of the leaders of this team, and somebody
that became a fan favorite. So the similar charge on
the offensive line is to Nick Cassario this offseason, and
I know that I've voiced my concerns about Nick Cassario
when it comes to the offensive line.

Speaker 2 (22:16):
I've even thrown out the.

Speaker 4 (22:18):
Chance that Cassario might have a blind spot to offensive
line evaluation. I mean Kenyan Green, I think, is a
good example of that of a player that they drafted
pretty high and had high hopes for and injuries have
kind of hampered his chances of being the player that
people hope that he could be. But I've also said
it before, injuries are a part of developments. I mean,

(22:40):
you're judged on being on the field. You're judged on
being able to produce on game days. And while there's
not stats for offensive linemen, there's still the chance to
look at film and see how are you performing out there?

Speaker 2 (22:52):
And Kenyon Green's not performed well.

Speaker 4 (22:54):
Blake Fisher, it's way too early to tell, and the
Texans are giving him his opportunity to play, and I
suspect that probably for every game going forward, you will
see Blake Fisher at right tackle, because again, they want
to see what they have spent a second round pick
on him. Last year you didn't have a first rounder,
so he and Kamari Laster were the first two editions
in that draft class, and you want to see what

(23:16):
he's got. The early returns on Laster have been great
for Blake Fisher. I think you probably have to say
to be determined, you've seen good things, but you've also
seen oh yeah, you're rookie offensive lineman. Okay, But the
charge for Nick Cassio has to be really on three fronts,
and that is the interior offensive line. Because I say

(23:37):
the interior offensive line, and you might say, well, wait
a minute, Titus Howard's been kicked inside.

Speaker 2 (23:42):
Is that where he's going to stay? That's a question
you've got to answer.

Speaker 4 (23:44):
And Laramie Tunseell, despite some of your frustration with his
play at times and the pre snap penalties, the metrics
would tell you and the play on the field would
tell you Tunsell is still a really good left tackle
and that is not going to change anytime soon, not
only with the price tag, but you've got much larger
issues on the offensive line to deal with. You're gonna

(24:05):
hear from Aaron Wilson here in just a couple of minutes,
and I asked him about Jarrett Patterson because I've talked
about it numerous times, the importance of the center and
what they mean to not only the quarterbacks, confidence on
game days, but just the offensive confidence on game days.
I mean I've brought it up numerous times of centers
of the past and how much they meant to their quarterbacks.

(24:27):
I mean, you couldn't think about Peyton Manning without thinking
of Jeff Saturday, right, you couldn't think of Matt Ryan
without thinking of Todd McClure. And I mean, you know,
just any other teams of great quarterbacks and who their
center was. I mean, you know, Joe Montana, Randy Cross,
you know any any of these other centers that were
out there that were able to have great careers, And

(24:49):
I mean you know, just you throw out the names
and you go down the list and you just talk
about how important that guy is. The strength of the
offensive line is the center position. They know the checks,
they know the calls, they know everybody's job on the field.
The center is like a catcher in baseball. There's a
reason why guys like Martin Maldonado, despite their offensive inefficiencies,

(25:10):
do stick around for as long as they do. You
hear it all the time, how they run a pitching staff,
how they are defensively, all of those different things. I mean,
you hear it in baseball, the comparison is you're only
as good as you are up the middle.

Speaker 2 (25:21):
It's the same deal in football.

Speaker 4 (25:23):
The same principles absolutely apply of on the defensive side.
How good are you on the interior defensive line? How
good are you at the linebacker position, how good are
you at the safety spots? They all matter, and the
center on the offensive side of the football absolutely sets
the tone for that at the guard spots. I would
probably say right now that the Texans are in the

(25:45):
business of adding at least too and I would go
veteran options if the possibility presents itself, because while you
would not mind spending a higher draft pick, because where
the Texans are going to be drafting is going to
be towards the bottom end of the first round. I mean,
let's just say that the Texans win next week. That

(26:06):
probably puts you at what twenty four twenty five drafting.
At that point, you're drafting somebody who is a fringe
first rounder, maybe even a second rounder. So somebody that
is going to be an immediate contributor for you, but
you can't necessarily count on is going to be an
immediate impact player for you. So I need guys that
can come in and be able to set the tone

(26:26):
for that side of football. That's veteran players, that's trades,
that's free agency, and if you're going to be aggressive
on that side of the football in twenty twenty five,
that's where I start. I mean, being able to have
more help on the offensive end for CJ. Stroud and
frankly for Nico Collins. Sure, I want that too, but

(26:48):
I also think that I can maybe address that need
in the draft, because I mean, I've brought it up
numerous times. Look at the receiver position in college football
and how advanced it is, and how you get receivers
coming into the NFL and they already know the offensive concepts,
They're good to go, and more than anything, it's just
about making plays on Saturday or excuse me, on Sunday,

(27:08):
which translating from Saturday to Sunday.

Speaker 2 (27:10):
You get my point.

Speaker 4 (27:11):
But that's where I think that the charge for this
team needs to be after this season. And I understand
it is a little bit card ahead of the horse
because you still have the playoffs, but I'm also speaking
a little bit in the future tents because I think
I'm like most people with this Texans team.

Speaker 2 (27:26):
You might be able to win next week, but.

Speaker 4 (27:28):
I don't have any confidence in you going to Kansas
City and winning the following week, or say you do
win that week and going to Buffalo or to Baltimore
and being able to win. But at that time, I
think that most people, if you were at the middle
of this Texan season and you said, well, hey, you're
at least going to get through the divisional round, a
lot of people would take that and call it a
massive success for a season.

Speaker 2 (27:49):
So we'll have to see how it all breaks down.

Speaker 4 (27:53):
But let's just say my confidence is pretty minimal, and
even people's confidence in them, no matter if it's the
Steelers in town next week, of being able to definitively
say you're winning that football game. So I think that
a little bit of thinking to the future probably doesn't
hurt the soul just too much. All Right, enough of
me talking about the Texans. You'll get a little bit

(28:13):
more of me. But also Brian Lima As yesterday we
had our very own seven ninety insider Aaron Wilson joined
us on the Sean Salisbury Show.

Speaker 2 (28:23):
Aaron also with KPRC.

Speaker 4 (28:25):
Two as we will preview tomorrow's Texans Titans matchup. What
should we expect from the game. We'll talk about that
on the other side. Right here, it's Space City Saturday.
Dan Matthews here with you Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 1 (28:39):
It's Space City Saturday on Sports Talk seven.

Speaker 4 (28:43):
Ninety, Sportstocks seven ninety, Dan Matthews here with you until
noon again. The number to join some one three two
one two five seven ninety one. It's gonna at someone
three two one two five seven ninety. We'll get to
your calls here in just a few minutes, but first,
as promised, let's get you to a visit that me

(29:03):
and Brian Lima had yesterday with Aaron Wilson, our very
own Sports Talk seven ninety NFL Insider, Texans Insider. He's
also with kPr C too. Aaron will be there in
Nashville tomorrow, and I think that he is going to
be looking for an answer to the same question that
we all have. As Brian Lima starts off the conversation

(29:23):
by asking Aaron, Hey, how much we're going to see
the starters tomorrow?

Speaker 5 (29:27):
Aaron bring between the lines with things I've been hearing.
He's going to play it by ear where he's got
something of a plan where let's say there is a lead,
he could get guys out of there. I think it's
gonna be a field thing, not something that's written in stone.
How's the game going, and then he'll love some guys.

(29:50):
I think a lot of it will apps do with
not just health, but like getting some guys in a flow.
So you know, he'd like CEJ to throw some pass
to the Deontay Johnson things like that. No, I don't
think it's that important for say like an Eagle Collins
visual mixing. But there's many selective cases you could make

(30:12):
for why. But talking to players, they say they like
his plan. They think they need this, that they need
to play better heading into the postseason. And I agree
with that. I think, you know, obviously the best play plans.

Speaker 2 (30:26):
You hope that.

Speaker 5 (30:26):
I think it was awry, but you know, the worst
case scenario is you get more banged up, you move
somebody's injury. But I mean you can't in case these
guys in glass and then you'll say, Okay, we're just
gonna have everybody wait till the playoffs. I mean playing
the football game. I don't think the Titans are really

(30:48):
going all out, and there's about alternating quarterbacks of that
game that should be able to win. But the game
doesn't mean anything. I mean, it looks better to have
ten wins. What's the friends, The biggest thing is just
getting in a better groove for the playoff game.

Speaker 6 (31:06):
And we'll see.

Speaker 5 (31:07):
Doesn't look like the Browns are going all out. They're
putting Bailey Zappy out there, so we'll see. I mean,
it's looking like it will probably be the Steelers the
way it may shape up again.

Speaker 4 (31:19):
Aaron Wilson join us for his weekly visit here on
the Sean Salisbury Show. You can find him on Twitter
at Aaron Wilson Underscore NFL. You mentioned it being a
case by case basis me and Sean were talking earlier.
Aziz Al Shaier has not played football in three weeks.
Christian Harris only started playing about three weeks ago.

Speaker 2 (31:36):
I mean, are are.

Speaker 4 (31:37):
Those some of the guys that case by case you
can look at and say, you know, when you look
at the participation report at the end of this game,
that they probably have some of the most reps out there.

Speaker 5 (31:47):
Right, Yeah, I think they want to let those guys
continue to shed russ for as ease, and he's missed
a lot of football, and they'd like to give him
back on the field and have an opportunity to get
him playing the way he can before the playoff game.
He can really give them a shot in the arm.
Having a linebacker like that also can cover. I mean,

(32:09):
that's been a sore point for the defense during his
absence and the things that have happened with pass coverage
at the linebacker position. So yeah, I think that's the
move They're gonna both. They're both excited they're gonna play together,
and I know they're playing. I think they'll try to
get those guys.

Speaker 6 (32:29):
In some kind of groove heading into postseason.

Speaker 5 (32:33):
But it's funny, he's individual guys. You know, how much
time do you need? How long does it take for
the instincts and everything to kick back in.

Speaker 4 (32:42):
Aaron The addition of Deontay Johnson to this Texans roster,
being claimed off waivers, obviously everything that has been made
about his season being traded and now he's with the Texans.

Speaker 2 (32:54):
How much time do.

Speaker 4 (32:55):
You think he really needs to try to get in
tune with this offense.

Speaker 5 (33:00):
I think he needs to play probably half the game
that would help. Just don't know how many of the
players he actually knows, so you know, you just go
out of the route tree down. He's an accomplished wide receiver.
So Bill, they can go over to the huddle. I'm
gonna threw this. I'm gonna thray you that. I think

(33:22):
there was some design stuff for him and you know,
some touches. Nothing would surprise me.

Speaker 6 (33:27):
But I could see him catching three or four passes.

Speaker 7 (33:34):
Ye.

Speaker 4 (33:34):
I mean, And that's the thing is, you know you
talk about, you know, just what his production can be.
I mean for Texans fans out there who are looking
for somebody to go alongside Nico Collins and actually be
able to help out C. J.

Speaker 2 (33:47):
Stroud in this offense.

Speaker 4 (33:49):
Is Johnson a guy that in this short amount of
period can be somebody that could be a viable number two.

Speaker 5 (33:57):
He can It's just no look at you know, the
skill set, it's there. It's just he's always had problems
with getting upset. I think he's gonna have the opposite problem.
I think they're going to give him the ball and
he doesn't get the ball, gets mad. That's that's in
the pattern, and you get you can be happy one

(34:17):
moment and then he gets angry. He's had some must
the downs, so far or nothing but good reviews. He's
just studying and happy to be here and he likes
it and this is a place that he was interested
in playing him before I didn't didn't really engage any
trade talks, but he wanted that to happen to the

(34:39):
team he's been interested in. He met C. J. Shadd
at autograph signing and they hit it off. And yet
so far, we're hearing a lot of good things. I
don't know if you caught Joe Mixon's podium interview. He
was getting an award from the from US from the
local potal Writers Trapter for media good guy for or

(35:00):
just his cooperation with the media this year, which has
been different from the way he was in Cincinnati. But
he's had a good relationship with us. But he brought
up Deontony Johnson.

Speaker 3 (35:10):
And he went on and on.

Speaker 5 (35:12):
About what this guy can do and people are like
what they see from him. And I think it was
interesting because players no players, and Joe is so authentic.
I thought that was really interesting to hear how effusive
he was about Deyonty Johnson.

Speaker 2 (35:30):
Speaking of Joe Mixon.

Speaker 4 (35:33):
I know you asked de mikiol Ryans earlier this week
about trying to jump start this running game because it's
been you know, quote unquote stuck in neutral. If you will,
what do you think needs to happen for Joe Mixon
to get back to you know, at least rushing for
over one hundred yards. Is it a combination of Joe
Mixon and the offensive line or is it just single

(35:53):
handle of the offensive I just has to block better
on run plays.

Speaker 5 (35:57):
Well, it's always both guys. I mean, he's got to
to break the tackles and hit the hole and make
something happen, makes what he miss. I think he can
be a little more elusive, and he's been kind of
his plowed straight ahead, so he's runs so but Dave's
got to open up better holes. And g Scruggs is
going back out there. He's gonna play right guard. You

(36:18):
get Jerry Patterson center, You've got At Howard of course,
at left guard, Larry Tunssel, and the right tackles Blake Fisher.
They need to have a better performance. I mean the
way they play against the Ravens stures of how they
picked up stunts or didn't pick them up, and the
run blocking was non existent. They had to abandon the
running games, so they.

Speaker 6 (36:39):
Didn't do anything well.

Speaker 5 (36:40):
It was probably slowly committed against the Ravens.

Speaker 6 (36:43):
So the offense, to me, they're the ones with lots proof.

Speaker 4 (36:48):
Aaron Wilson again join us here on the Sean Salisbury Show.
You know, Aaron, we were talking about Jared Patterson a
little bit earlier. I mean, what have you seen from
his play this year? And do you think that he's
done enough that, even with the changes that we believe
are going to come to this offensive line this offseason,
that he's earned the right to go in the next

(37:08):
season as the starting center.

Speaker 6 (37:11):
I could see that happening.

Speaker 5 (37:12):
I don't know if they're worried about Sharrett really. I
think they think he does.

Speaker 2 (37:16):
A solid job.

Speaker 5 (37:17):
It's a good technique. He plays with decent pad level
for a tall guy, and it really matters to him.
You can probably see on his face and the effort
how much the game means to him. He's got a
lot of intangibles. He's good as the line calls, which
was a problem before with two scrugs. I would say

(37:38):
that Jared's got to keep getting bigger and stronger. That's
his weakness. He's got to be a bigger more powerful lineman.
But he is really in front of you on pass
pro and the guy that works, hard working, gritty lineman
that I would say he hasn't been a problem. If anything,

(38:03):
I think he's been kind of an asset for them.
I just don't know is there's something behind door number
two that's just a huge upgrade. If they can find that, great,
But if not, I think they'd be comfortable with Patterson.

Speaker 4 (38:15):
A couple more minutes with NFL insider Aaron Wilson, covering
the Texans and the NFL for KPRC Channel two Sports.
You can find him on Twitter at Aaron Wilson Underscore NFL.

Speaker 2 (38:25):
All right, Aaron, talking about the Pro Bowl.

Speaker 4 (38:28):
You got a couple guys for the Texans that made
the Pro Bowl in Derek Steingland Junior, Nico Collins, Joe Mixon,
Laramie Tunsel. Then you have a list of alternates as well.
Are you surprised that Neil Hunter is just an alternate
and not a first ballot Pro Bowler?

Speaker 5 (38:44):
I thought it was a snub, but I also think,
guy understand what happens. You've got Will Anderson Jr. Returning
Pro Bowl guy, feel Hunter four time Pro Bowl guy
third in the NFL in sacks. He's the one that
really had more the splash plays and the stant Will
had a great season two. But I thought that Danil

(39:06):
was just sort of a cut above. And what I
think happened is that they split the votes.

Speaker 6 (39:10):
So let's say you're a coach or a.

Speaker 5 (39:13):
Player and you're doing the balloting. They were up there
for the fan balloting. Coaches and players matter more two
thirds of the vote, and guys probably like some guys,
oh well, you know, I like Anderson or I like Hunter.
I'm not giving them both my Pro Bowl votes. You know,
there's the Trey Hendrickson's, there's other rushers, Jonathan Gernard on

(39:36):
the NFC squad, I mean the AFC.

Speaker 6 (39:39):
You know, you've got Henderson, You've got some other.

Speaker 5 (39:40):
Good defensive linemen. You know, like Crowdy's not going to
play in the game. So Danil will get in if
he wants to go to the Pro Bowl games, which
is just flag football. It's really not about the game anymore.
That's nothing. It's just some guys have this in their contract.
Daniel is one of those guys. But he had a
million dollars.

Speaker 6 (40:00):
Pro Bowl incentives, so it cost.

Speaker 5 (40:02):
Him money, so that's real.

Speaker 6 (40:05):
It's a lot of money.

Speaker 5 (40:07):
And his incentive with Willi's just in a rookie deal,
so nothing like that. But yeah, I thought Danil that
they made a mistake for him not to make it,
and I thought he should have made it. And will
you know, maybe he's maybe he's the alternative of the two,
but yeah, then both are alternates. I'm sure Danil get

(40:27):
added to the game, but he wasn't voting into it
initially and that makes a difference. So yeah, I would
say it's it's just a tough situation when you have
two good edgreshers.

Speaker 6 (40:39):
Normally teams don't have both guys make the Pro Bowl.

Speaker 4 (40:41):
All right, I got twenty seconds left for you, Aaron
NFL inside Aaron Wilson finishing up here on the Shawn
Salisbury Show. Give us your prediction Texans Titans? Who wins?

Speaker 5 (40:50):
I think the Texans win this game. I'm gonna go
with them.

Speaker 6 (40:54):
I'd say twenty four to.

Speaker 2 (40:56):
Thirteen, twenty four to thirteen.

Speaker 4 (40:59):
There you go, Aaron Wilson predicting an eleven point Texans
win tomorrow. Is that mostly a Davis Mills led Texans
win against those Titans wearing the jerseys, which we haven't
talked about that. We're not going to talk much about it.
They're three and thirteen. If you want to try to
say that that's a flex, well that's on you.

Speaker 2 (41:17):
You look ridiculous.

Speaker 4 (41:19):
So that's what Tennessee wants to do, and that's how
they want to handle this week.

Speaker 2 (41:24):
So let them do it whatever.

Speaker 4 (41:25):
But good stuff from Aaron, especially two as I mentioned
a question about Jarrett Patterson in there, how he fits
into the offensive line we talked about in the segment before.
So that is, like I said, good stuff from Aaron,
but also too some of the things we're we be
looking forward tomorrow in the game. All right, let's close
out the ten o'clock hour with this. The Texans still

(41:46):
believe in CJ. Straub. What is history telling them is
a possible reality. We'll discuss that right here as again
we close up ten o'clock hour right here on Space
City Saturday, Dan Matthews, This is Sports Talk seven to ninety.

Speaker 1 (42:08):
Welcomebore, Welcome to another Space City Saturday on Sports Talk
seven ninety Dad Matthews Live and local h Town breakdown
of the world that matters to you.

Speaker 3 (42:19):
The Houston Sports World.

Speaker 2 (42:21):
All these great Houston fans here.

Speaker 3 (42:23):
We love you all, So finish up on that to
do list.

Speaker 1 (42:28):
Flute up the cooler because you can't drink in talk
sports all day if you don't start now burn me
in the eight.

Speaker 3 (42:36):
This is Space City Saturday.

Speaker 2 (42:38):
That's insane.

Speaker 3 (42:40):
Here's seven nineties, Dad Matthews.

Speaker 4 (42:44):
Sports Talk seven ninety Space City Saturday, our number two
final hour here on the show again, if you want
to jump in on the conversation, even Texans calls, you're
more than welcome to. Even though we covered the Sexans
in our one, we can still care that over to hear.
So someone three two one two five seven ninety is
the number to do that. Some one three two one

(43:06):
two five seven nine zero as promised, Let's not waste
any more time.

Speaker 2 (43:12):
It's time for me to hear those voices in my head.

Speaker 4 (43:23):
There he is bit fire for himself. You better make
sure you don't get that finishing move from Randy Orton.
As he hears voices in his head, they talk to him,
they counsel him. Well, try to do the same here
as we've got four different pieces of audio for you,
as you've heard some of them this week. And maybe

(43:44):
even one that you have not heard because it happened
last night. So let's start first with a couple of
them that I know you heard if you were listening
to us yesterday on in case you missed it on
the A Team, And the first one is of a
local variety, so I touched on it in the opening segment,
and we'll get more into the college Football Playoff your
bottom of the hour when we hear from Josh Pate,

(44:05):
who joined us also like Aaron Wilson on the Sean
Salisbury Show yesterday, to react to the College Football Playoff
quarterfinal round, but also to get us ready for teams
like the Texas Longhorns taking on the Ohio State Buckeyes,
or even Notre Dame taking on Penn State. But for
the local angle here, most of us care about the

(44:28):
Longhorns taking on Ohio States and Ohio State. As I
talked about, they had no problem with Tennessee in their
opening round game, and they had zero problems with Oregon,
although Oregon tried to make it somewhat interesting even though
they were down by so much leading into the half,
and they score and they almost get a stop, but

(44:48):
then Ohio State gets the touchdown, and at that point
it was kind of like, all right, enough jokes, Oregon,
it's not your day. Number one's going home, have a
nice weekend, have a nice offseason. But oot has looked
incredibly impressive. Texas gonna be playing probably in front of
a ton of people dressed in burn orange and white
inside at and T Stadium on Friday night, and Steve

(45:11):
Sarkisian trying to appeal to those but also saying, hey,
this Ohio st eight team, they're pretty good.

Speaker 8 (45:19):
But now to be in the Semis and playing the
Cotton Bowl in Dallas is huge. You know, we're Gon,
We're gonna need our fans. We're gonna need our fans support.
I need Longhorn Nation to show out in Arlington. We're
gonna need everything we got to to try.

Speaker 2 (45:30):
To win this game. You know, you know clearly we're
massive underdogs.

Speaker 8 (45:34):
Nobody's gonna give us a shot, so we're gonna need
all that we can to try to win this game.

Speaker 4 (45:40):
All right, two parts to this, I think Number one
I'll address you, the Longhorned fan. First, don't fall into
the trap for this game. Because there's certain teams in
college football that we somewhat look down our nose at like.
For example, there are a lot of people who were
heading into that Georgia Notre Dame game that, of course

(46:01):
was played on Thursday because of the unspeakable tragedy that
happened on New Year's Morning. They're in New Orleans and
the game was moved to then. But leading into that game,
every single time it was brought up, there would be
the reaction of, Oh, the Notre Dame's not good enough
to beat Georgia. They don't have the athletes, they don't
have the strength, they don't have the physicality.

Speaker 2 (46:20):
Any of those things.

Speaker 4 (46:22):
And if you were watching this Notre Dame team, you
absolutely knew, no, that's not the case. Marcus Freeman has
built a hell of a roster, either through transfers or
just through development, whatever it might be. That defense is
as fast and athletic as any that you're going to see,
either in that.

Speaker 2 (46:38):
Game or for the rest of the way.

Speaker 4 (46:40):
And Ohio State, I think kind of fits into that
same category. Teams get a reputation Ohio State big games,
they somehow find a way to falter. They can't beat Michigan,
they can't make it to the national title game. All
of those different things have been thrown at Ryan Day
in Ohio State, and they're trying to fight that right now,
and they're trying.

Speaker 2 (46:58):
To be able to get past that.

Speaker 4 (47:00):
The first couple of games that they've had, they've looked
as advertised, they've looked as what we thought they were
going to look like all season. And that's the second
part of this. I think what Steve Sarkisian is saying
it sticks because we've heard contrived motivation before. I mean,
I brought up to Georgia example. Remember Nolan Smith played
linebacker for them. Now he's with the Philadelphia Eagles, and

(47:22):
he was saying, after they won the national title over TCU, oh,
people doubted us all season. You all thought we were
gonna go seven to five. You thought we were going
to be terrible, And everybody's kind of looking around saying, Nolan,
nobody said that. But it was motivation that they brought
up for themselves in their own building to kind of
fight against complacency that can happen for programs like that

(47:42):
of thinking.

Speaker 2 (47:43):
Hey, we've made it, we don't need to do anything.
We're all good.

Speaker 4 (47:46):
That's kind of the battle that coaches and programs face
in college football, and you have to be able to
try to make up some sort of motivation. For Steve Sarkisian,
He's not wrong. This is a really good Ohio State team. Offensively,
they're playing their best football right now. Defensively, same deal there.
And there's a reason why Vegas has them as a
six point favorite in this game because I brought it

(48:08):
up earlier. Texas has kind of struggled in their first
couple of games. They haven't been able to run the
football well. You've seen quin viewers at times turn the
football over. You've seen also too, teams have been able
to get them for explosive plays down the field. Clemson
was able to do that. Arizona State was able to
do that in the Peach Bowl earlier this week. So
everything Steve Sarkisian is saying is not wrong. He is

(48:31):
absolutely right in trying to prepare not only his team
but also the fan base for saying, hey, we're going
to need you to be loud, we're going to need
those pre snap penalties. We're gonna need you to kind
of make it a home field advantage there at AT
and T stadiums. So good on sark to take that
tact because he's one hundred percent right. This is if
Texas comes out of this win, it's going to be

(48:52):
hats off to Texas. But this Ohio State team playing
as well as anybody in the country right now. So
it's going to be a tough, tough Friday night for
the Longhorns there in DFW. All right, so let's move
it to somewhat local. But it's of interest because it's
an AFC South team and it's Pat McAfee and we've
played Pat McAfee before. I've told you I'm a huge

(49:15):
fan of Pat McAfee. I think he's great. I love
what he does. I know he's not for everybody, that's fine, whatever,
But anyway, we know that McAfee is a guy that
spent his entire career punting for the Indianapolis Colts. He
still lives there in Indianapolis. He is Colts blue and
white all the way through and through well. He, like

(49:35):
most Colts fans, have been incredibly disappointed with how this.

Speaker 2 (49:38):
Season has gone.

Speaker 4 (49:40):
They were a team that last year went all the
way to the final game of the season and lost
to the Texans for the Texans to move on winning
the AFC South and they missed out on the playoffs.
It was the same deal this season. Of course, earlier
on in the year there was the Anthony Richardson tapping
the top of his helmet and after the game being asked, Hey,
why'd you do that? I was tired? And it did
not it well with people inside the building. Despite what

(50:02):
Shane Steiken tried to say, despite what maybe even any
of the other players tried to say, it kind of
set the tone for this thing to be spiraling downward
all seasons.

Speaker 2 (50:11):
So where McAfee comes in on this is yesterday.

Speaker 4 (50:13):
On the show, they were making their game picks for
the weekend and he was talking about the Colts going
into their final game.

Speaker 2 (50:20):
He's picking them to win.

Speaker 4 (50:22):
But let's just say that Pat McAfee is not happy
with Anthony Richardson, not happy with Shane Stike, and not
happy with Chris Ballard. He is just overall not happy
with the Colts organization.

Speaker 9 (50:36):
The prodco's last game possible, and a lot of people
on echold team hopefully last game as Indianapolis Colts. That's
kind of my hope.

Speaker 2 (50:45):
I wish we could transfer port the whole.

Speaker 3 (50:46):
Team to take Ohio State.

Speaker 9 (50:48):
We had like seventy guys that hit the portal. I
can't do it though in the NFL. I guess I've
been trying to research it.

Speaker 4 (50:54):
See, like I've said, you think you think things aren't
great here, You think that you know, this is a
Texans team that's severely disappointed this year, and you know
just all of the frustrations that you have with this
Texans team, Folks, it can always be worse. I mean,
I don't think that there were anybody that was looking
at the way that these teams stacked up this season
and thought that there were any teams in the AFC

(51:16):
South that were better than the Texans. But at least
the Colts thought that they could be a playoff team
and could challenge the Texans.

Speaker 2 (51:22):
This year ended up not working out, And.

Speaker 4 (51:25):
I guess we'll see with this upcoming draft what the
Colts think they have in terms of Anthony Richardson's future,
or if they go ahead and decide to punt on
that and go with the quarterback here early and try
to reset in that vein and be able to go
forward as an organization from there. But you hear Pat McAfee,
there is tons of frustration up there. In Indianapolis right now,

(51:47):
and us here in Houston we say tough.

Speaker 2 (51:50):
That sucks.

Speaker 4 (51:51):
Hate that for you guys, Not really though, but anyway,
Pat McAfee not happy with the Colts, all right, the piece,
the results on this one. The great finish too, I
hear voices today is a two parter. And again one
of these you heard yesterday on the A team and
another one well it happened last night, so you hadn't

(52:11):
heard it yet. Charles Barkley, we know that Chuck is
not afraid to speak his mind, right, he did so
as a player. He's done so on inside the NBA
with TNT. I've talked to you before about Jason McIntyre
saying that he thinks that inside the NBA is hurting
the product of the league overall, just because of how

(52:31):
much Chack Shuck Kenny Shack Chuck Kenny. I kind of
just merge Shack and Chuck right there. But you get
my point, Barkley. You know Shaquille O'Neil and Kenny the
jet Smith on inside the NBA. I mean it's a
roast pre and post right there, with Ernie Johnson trying
to play as much of the straight man as possible

(52:53):
on TNT, but in this case, right here, this first
piece of audio, it is Ernie John going through the
highlights of a game between the Minnesota Timberwolves and the
team of the Rockets just faced last night the Boston Celtics,
and Charles Barkley decides that's the time to not talk

(53:14):
about that game, but to take direct aim at Lakers
head coach JJ Reddick.

Speaker 2 (53:20):
He said something about with.

Speaker 10 (53:22):
The reason people are watching this craftic product we got, yeah,
like we out there jacking up one hundred threes night.

Speaker 2 (53:28):
JJ.

Speaker 3 (53:29):
I don't know Jason Monroe.

Speaker 10 (53:30):
I don't know who that is, but JJ, you come
for the King. You better not missed, and I can
get you, brother, because I got Remember, I got you
Lakers games.

Speaker 3 (53:39):
You can't hide them flalls. They got.

Speaker 10 (53:42):
You're just a dead man walking. They got rid of
Frank Vogel, who did a good job. They got rid
of Darburnham, who did a good job. You came out
that thing and you were gonna change things with that
same ugly girl you went them to hate with.

Speaker 2 (53:52):
Sixty sixty one was your halftime score.

Speaker 3 (53:56):
We get back to the highlights. Rudy go there. He
came in after I can make this thing word. You can.

Speaker 2 (54:08):
Lego steak Man man.

Speaker 4 (54:12):
There you go, Charles Barkley not mincing words. And what
this comes from is I mentioned the McIntyre criticism of
Inside the NBA, and I like believe it was WEX
yesterday that wasn't sure of the context with this with
JJ Reddick, wasn't sure. But I finally saw the quotes
attributed to JJ Reddick.

Speaker 2 (54:32):
I don't think and by we I was part of it.

Speaker 4 (54:35):
We as sort of the national partners have done a
good job of storytelling, of celebrating the game. If I'm
a casual fan and you tell me every time I
turn on the television that the product sucks, well I'm
not going to watch the product. And that's what really
has happened over the last ten to fifteen years. I
don't know why it's not funny to me. Nothing is
entertaining to me. This game should be celebrated. So you

(54:59):
heard Charles Barkley respond to those words that I just
read you from JJ Reddick about you know, coming after
Inside the NBA and saying that they're the problem. Well,
Charles Barkley laying out his case of saying, no, we're
not the problem.

Speaker 2 (55:12):
The game is the problem. The game sucks.

Speaker 4 (55:14):
The game is no defense, nothing but threes and just
bad basketball.

Speaker 2 (55:20):
It's not a really fun product to watch.

Speaker 4 (55:22):
And for Charles, I think he looks at it as
I'm an analyst. I'm somebody that's supposed to give my opinion.
I'm going to give my opinion, and for everything he
just said about JJ Reddick, he's not wrong.

Speaker 2 (55:32):
He brought up Frank Vogel.

Speaker 4 (55:34):
Frank Vogel made a scapegoat and he was shown the
door there in La same deal with Darvin Ham and
a lot of people thought, oh Lebron finally just hired
his podcast buddy, So now he thinks that everything is
going to be so great, when in reality you got
a bad roster there in La Lebron. So that was
Charles Barkley talking about JJ Reddick and his criticism of

(55:54):
inside the NBA and shows of the sort that cover
the league. Well, of course, usually whenever you have a
shot like this, then you got to have the chaser.
And it was after the Lakers game against the Hawks
when JJ Reddick was asked about Charles Barkley's comments.

Speaker 11 (56:12):
I would make it all all the way through the clip.
I gotta be honest with you. My arresting heart rate
is probably sixty four. I watched it, but it was
sixty four.

Speaker 3 (56:25):
Literally, don't care. I have other thoughts, but I don't.

Speaker 4 (56:30):
Care, all right, So three things from this I know
I usually do the two things thing, but there's three
things that tell me the Ron Burgundy, you know the
point I don't believe you. I'm Ron Burgundy right now
with JJ Reddick. I don't believe you.

Speaker 2 (56:45):
Number one, Yes, you did make it all the way through.

Speaker 4 (56:47):
You knew exactly what Charles Barkley said, and if you didn't,
somebody told you exactly what he said.

Speaker 2 (56:52):
So that's number one.

Speaker 4 (56:53):
Number two another tell for me that I know that
the last part of this is completely moot, and it's
Joe Peshi and my cousin Vinny. Everything that guy just
said is bet you know, is bull?

Speaker 2 (57:06):
You know what?

Speaker 4 (57:07):
Well, you're bringing up your resting heart reaate? Like what
who talks like that?

Speaker 2 (57:12):
Who says that?

Speaker 4 (57:13):
Like if you really don't care, you just say, yeah,
I saw it. He's entitled to his opinion, and that's
that's how you handle that. If you said it that way,
then I'd be like, Okay, Hey, I respect that, JJ,
You're fine. But then the last part, the people who
tell you I don't care are the ones who care
way too much.

Speaker 5 (57:31):
You know how.

Speaker 2 (57:31):
There's people who will go out of their way to
say I give zero you know what's.

Speaker 4 (57:35):
You give all of the you know what's, and you
have to tell me that because you're trying to convince
yourself that you don't care, when in reality you care
way too much. It's almost kind of like your friend
that's just gone through a breakup and they've gotten somewhat
to the next stage of grief right there, of getting
over the breakup that probably they did not instigate, but
it's still something that still bothers them so much to

(57:56):
this point that they have to tell you over and
over again, but I'm over them, I'm over them, I'm
over them.

Speaker 2 (58:01):
And it's just like, Okay, how many times do you
have to tell us.

Speaker 4 (58:04):
That you're over them until you actually believe without saying it,
that you're over them. And that's the problem with JJ Reddick.
He's cared way too much from the beginning. Remember the
introductory press conference he had where he.

Speaker 2 (58:15):
Thought he was being such a cool guy.

Speaker 4 (58:17):
I'm swearing during his introductory press conference and tell people
how much he doesn't care about people's opinions. That tells
me that you care way too much about people's opinions.
And you even talked about it too in the words
that I read from JJ Reddick that you were part
of this thing. You know what said, you know how
this business is, you know what can be the good
and the bad from this business. And on top of

(58:37):
it all as well, it's not even necessarily JJ Reddick's
fault that the Lakers are who they are. Who's the
constant in all of this, Yeah, you guessed it, the
guy who seemingly pulls the strings there in La being
the star player, because as Charles pointed out, Frank Vogel,
you said, hey, this guy's not good enough.

Speaker 2 (58:55):
We have to get somebody else. And then you got
Darvin Hamm in there. Hey this guy's not good enough.
We have to it's somebody else.

Speaker 4 (59:00):
I mean this, There's been a proven track record of
Lebron doing this all throughout his career. I mean, if
I'm not mistaken, didn't he try to get Eric Spolstra
bounce in Miami? And Eric Spolstra has been one of
the longest tenured to coaches in the league. So good
on pat Riley and Miami for finally saying, hey, you
know what, if you don't like it here, you can
go ahead and have your I'm coming home to Cleveland
and everything else and do all of that, and we

(59:22):
wish you nothing but the best. But we've got a
system here, We've got an organization, and we're going to
stick to that and we're going to continue to win.

Speaker 2 (59:30):
And that's what the Heat.

Speaker 4 (59:31):
Have done, even since the Heat Oles broke up after
Lebron James and Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh were there
and they were winning titles and they had success. But
everything you know from all of this, I mean, if
you want to know who probably the public side is
on this, there's no doubt they're on Charles Barkley's side
on this. As for JJ Reddick and Lebron James and

(59:53):
the whole operation there in LA I think I can
speak for a lot of people.

Speaker 2 (59:57):
I hope it fails miserably.

Speaker 4 (59:59):
I really do, because I think that JJ Reddick thinks
that he's the smartest guy in the room, and he
tries to remind people all the time that he's the
smartest guy in the room and then Lebron. I mean,
he's insufferable in his own rights, and he's a great player,
you can't take that from him, but also too at
the same time, My god, I am just ready for
this thing to be over there and for us to

(01:00:19):
be able to continue along our way, which we all
do anyway, but let's hope the Rockets can be able
to help them down that path tomorrow night when they
take on the Lakers. Five o'clock. Rockets launch Pad coming
your way. So that's how I hear voices went a
little along on that. So we got a little bit
of Astros to get to what coming up, because there
was something thrown out there that might have gotten Astros
fans excited.

Speaker 2 (01:00:41):
But there's a little bit of cold water that goes
with that.

Speaker 4 (01:00:44):
We'll discuss that right here on the other side as
we continue to roll along here on Space City Saturday.
Dan Matthews here with you when you're home of the
Astros in the Rockets Sports Talk seven to ninety seven
ninety Matthews here with you when you're home with the
Astros and the Rockets. As I promise, though, we were
going to get into a little bit of Astro's talk.
But since we went along along with I hear voices,

(01:01:06):
I might push that to the final segment after we
hear coming up next from Josh Pate of CBS Sports,
CBS Sports HQ and Josh Page College Football Show. So
that is a visit we had yesterday on the Sean
Salisbury Show. But we've gotten into tons of Texans, gotten
into tons of Rockets, and I know that's exactly where

(01:01:28):
Girard on the west side wants to go.

Speaker 2 (01:01:30):
So Gerard, the floor is yours. What's going on?

Speaker 7 (01:01:33):
Oh right? Too much as far as the Rocket go, Man,
it's a big, big, big blow for the Rockets, losing
Jabboris men from four to eight weeks. Uh, he's the
most visual tool defender.

Speaker 5 (01:01:45):
Uh.

Speaker 7 (01:01:45):
You know, you look at the game last night when
Tatum was started to cook. You know, they could have
put if if Jamar would have been and they could
have put him on there a little bit more sized,
a little bit more limbs. You know, I thought, uh,
you know Green he had a nice little block shot
against Tatum in the first half, but he's just a
little bit too small too Tatum, and he was able
to have his way with the other Rockets that will
guarding them. So that's gonna be a big loss for me.

(01:02:07):
You know. I know they get a mean Thomson back,
hopefully they get Tyreek Easton back, there'll help them. But uh,
Jabari Smith does a lot that don't show up in
the stacked sheet because he's a guy that's a great
health defender. He's the best shot block. He's really the
only shot block of him. And I mean tomsing mean
talking at blocking shots too. But we're not gonna get
that from the Doones. So that's gonna be a big
loss for the Rockets. I just think while he's out,

(01:02:28):
if they can just hang around five hundred, maintain what
the record is as far as above five hundred as
we stand here today, nine ten games above five hundred.
When they get Jabar Smith back, and then maybe they
can make a run down the stretch. But that's a big,
big loss for the Rockets, losing Jabari Smith before the
eight weeks.

Speaker 4 (01:02:45):
Yeah, okay, place, please.

Speaker 7 (01:02:49):
Put that thing on the Texans. I think that's gonna
be alright, and I think they gonna they gonna get healthy.
You know, now that we get an laz back. You
put in with Christian Harrison Man. If I can have
one of the best linebacker of duos in the you
have you bring him back, you get Polly part of
the cockas he's one of the month sung heroes for
the Texan I think he's really their best interior run defender.
I know Cela Junior has played well getting after the

(01:03:10):
quarterback and he's good too, But I think their best
DEFENSI attackers far as against the run is par the Cockets.
They can get him back, they had to show up
the run defense. You got Hunter and will Andson on outside.
I think the Texans can definitely win that first game
against the Chargers or the Steelers, whoever is gonna be there.
I think it's gonna be one of those two teams.
And then when you play Kansas City, you just have
to go up there and try to, you know, play

(01:03:31):
one of your best games of the season and think
the good thing about the NFL playoffs. He just got
to be the best team on that day. But I
just think the Texans get get healthy and c. J.
Stroud can get into some kind of rhythm with that
new receiver Deontae Johnson to take some of the heat
off of Nico Collins. I think they can get the
offense going too, and I also think that the offensive

(01:03:52):
line has been playing much better. I think CJ has
been struggling based on what happened earlier in the year
when he took a lot of hits. So I think
he's still kind of spoops from what happened earlier in
the year. But I think the line is playing better.
I think if he can get back to playing.

Speaker 6 (01:04:05):
Like he played last year, you know, I think they.

Speaker 7 (01:04:07):
Can definitely win their first game and didn't give Kansas
City a run for their money in their second round
playoff game.

Speaker 4 (01:04:13):
Yeah, I appreciate the culture. Rodd a couple of things.
I mean, number one, Jabari Smith Jr. You're not wrong.
I mean, I think with him it's a bummer for
the defensive presidence that he brings.

Speaker 2 (01:04:25):
You're not wrong about that. The length.

Speaker 4 (01:04:27):
I mean, we saw that play out last night with
the Rockets, with some of those fourth quarter second chance
opportunities that the Celtics were able to get, and how
many times we saw Peyton Pritchard was a beneficiary of
said second chance opportunities and that's why the Rockets lost
by twenty three. So there's that there's also the offensive side.
I mean, he was starting to really get his shot

(01:04:48):
going again and he was starting a factor on the
offensive end and put together some good performances. And I
know offensively we always focus on Jalen Green, but I
mean if you were able to get that from Jabari
Smith Junior, you felt like that was kind of the
next element in the equation that could really help this
team get to where they want to go this season,
and that's avoid the playing around and make it to
the Western Conference playoffs. So it is a bummer on

(01:05:11):
that and we'll see what the Rockets are able to
do in terms of being able to make up for
everything that he brings on the floor. I mean, you
know I talked about too with a Men Thompson earlier
where you've missed him for the last couple of games,
and you really missed him last night from what he
brings on the defensive side. As far as the Texans,
Tamiko Ryans agrees with you. I mean, you know, he

(01:05:34):
talked with the media earlier this week and he talked
about he liked where they were mentally and also that
they're starting to get healthy.

Speaker 2 (01:05:39):
And you bring up the point.

Speaker 4 (01:05:40):
About Aziz al Shayer and Christian Harris. We haven't gotten
to see Aziz al Shayer and Christian Harris play alongside
each other. I mean, that was what the defense was
supposed to look like this year. You were supposed to
have both of those guys on the field. Your linebacking
corps was supposed to be a you know, a group
of strength for this team. And they really pretty well

(01:06:01):
so far this season. But you know, also to not
having them, it's going to be exciting to see if
they can develop that chemistry and that rapport pretty quickly.
But also, you know, with fully Photocossi, I cannot agree
with you more in what he has meant for them,
not only in the run game, but just how he
has helped out Tim Settle, Mario Edwards Junior, and the

(01:06:24):
edge guys in Will Anderson Junior and also Daniel Hunters.
So you bring up some really good points there, Girod
and as always appreciate you hopping on and talking with us.

Speaker 2 (01:06:37):
Has promised though. Coming up next, we're.

Speaker 4 (01:06:38):
Going to hear from Josh Pate as we'll get back
into the college football playoff discussion with the Texas Longhorns
set to take on Ohio State and the Cotton Bowl
for a chance to make it to the National Title
Game and everything else related to the college football playoff.
Will have that for you right here for the start
at the bottom of the hour here on a Space

(01:06:59):
City set. Dan Matthews here with you until noon on
Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 1 (01:07:07):
Space City Saturday continues fine Sports Talk seven.

Speaker 2 (01:07:11):
Sports Talk seven ninety. Damn Matthews here with.

Speaker 4 (01:07:14):
You, Space City Saturday. A couple more segments to go,
and in this segment let's get into the college football playoff.
As yesterday we had Josh Pate from Josh Pat's College
Football Show. You can see it part of CBS Sports,
CBS Sports HQ, YouTube.

Speaker 2 (01:07:32):
All over social media.

Speaker 4 (01:07:33):
Josh is as good as it gets when it comes
to covering the college football game, and of course Texas
being part of the college football playoff of interest around here,
especially Sports Talk seven ninety with the Longhorns football and
men's basketball being here on seven ninety. So let's hear
from our visit yesterday with Josh Pate and in that

(01:07:55):
vein we had the phone lines. Right now, I talk
with my good buddy. You're good buddy, everybody, He's good buddy.
He's Josh Pate cbssports dot com, CBS Sports HQ, host
of Josh Pat's College Football Show. He's on YouTube, he
is on social media. He is, like I said, on
terrestrial TV. He is right there. If they're is severe

(01:08:18):
weather coming to your area, that's where we can find you. Josh,
what do you not do?

Speaker 12 (01:08:22):
Like?

Speaker 2 (01:08:23):
Tell us what you don't do.

Speaker 12 (01:08:26):
I don't face as much as I would like to, Daniel.
I need to really get in the resolution spirit right
now and carve out some time in February or June.
So yeah, that's my answer. I think most people think
you're swerving them when you talk about the severe weather.

Speaker 4 (01:08:42):
But it is a very.

Speaker 6 (01:08:43):
Real thing people, very real.

Speaker 3 (01:08:44):
No it is.

Speaker 2 (01:08:45):
It is.

Speaker 4 (01:08:45):
You follow my guy on social media during spring storm season,
and he's putting in extra work in addition to his
college football work, no doubt about it.

Speaker 2 (01:08:55):
So Josh, let's start. I mean, we've been talking all morning.

Speaker 4 (01:08:58):
About yesterday's scheme and New Orleans, but of course our
audience here they care more about what happened the day
before in Atlanta between Texas and Arizona State. Was there
anything that necessarily surprised you in that game? And do
you think that Texas might have shown some warts in
that effort against Arizona State.

Speaker 12 (01:09:17):
Yeah, I am like gobsmacked, And you know how rarely
I use that word. I am gobsmack that they got
out rushed to the degree they did. I was in
a situation, so we were out at the Rose Bowl.
We were doing pregame stuff on the field, so you know,
you're kind of trying to keep your eye on the
big screen. You're trying to keep your eye on the game,
but you're not really able to follow it in real time.

(01:09:40):
So I was in a situation where I knew the
game goes to overtime. I see the ending, but I
don't know how the game is played out. When I
went back and I watched that full game, and I
looked at box and I looked at all the numbers
that is on paper, not a game Texas.

Speaker 2 (01:09:55):
Is supposed to win.

Speaker 12 (01:09:56):
I never thought I'd say that now they won the game,
they get full credit and they move on and all that.
But I never I thought if I thought if Arizona
State even hung in the game, it would look like
the Georgia first half where Texas has tilted the box score.
But somehow they just kind of kept the other team
in it. In this case, it would be Arizona State,
and that wasn't the case. So that surprised me a lot.

(01:10:19):
I don't know you, I don't know what to make
defensively of the fact that they gave up a season
high and did go to overtime, but they gave up
a season high in point total. But also, you play
the best players you faced this time of year. I
know everyone says, well it was a big twelve team. Yeah,
that tailback, though, is better than any of you faced

(01:10:40):
all year. And he's a dynamic player obviously, so he's
a threat catching the ball as well. And then also
you always have that lingering question in the back of
your mind. It's not a criticism, it's just a question.
When you didn't play a schedule loaded with high level teams,
you looked at your stat profile on paper and you

(01:11:00):
always wonder is it going to stand up? I thought
that about Notre Dame going into last night. Well the
answer was it held up. So I wondered about Texas
and look what we got about eight or nine days,
and then we will get a definitive answer on whether
it's going to stand up. But that stuff can either
be a wake it can neither be a wake up
call to you, or it could be a sign of

(01:11:22):
trouble down the road. And they've just got to decide,
because I will tell you this, if they go on
to lose by double digits to Ohio State, it won't
because Texas doesn't have the players. I'll put it that way.
They got a plenty good enough locker room, They got
a plenty good enough roster to match up with anyone.
It's just that styles make fights, match ups and dictate fights.
And we got a big one coming in in Arlington,

(01:11:44):
Texas in a few days.

Speaker 4 (01:11:45):
And I want to get back to the run game.
You just brought it up. I mean, they had some
injuries before the season, CJ. Baxter going down, Trey Wisner
able to step in, Jadeen Blue.

Speaker 2 (01:11:54):
I mean, you know, I sense.

Speaker 4 (01:11:56):
A little bit of disappointment in terms of how they
look to against Arizona States. And I mean the cin
Ohio State defensive front with Jack Sawyer Tuimolowau that they
get after opposing team's run games. I mean, is that
something that is say, you know, as you start to
kind of plug in the matchups in this game that
starts to set off red flags for you.

Speaker 12 (01:12:18):
Yeah, it does, and you know it's twofold. It's not
just that Texas couldn't run the ball, it's Arizona State did.
So it's twofold there. And then the other part about
that as you push it forward is I don't know
how the Ohio State game will play out, but I
just I've watched them from field level the last two

(01:12:38):
games they played. I would not count on being able
to score a bunch of points against that team. Tennessee
was completely stoned. Oregon was mostly stoned until it was
thirty four to nothing. And so I've got to ask myself,
you know, if.

Speaker 6 (01:12:54):
I can't man, can't clear.

Speaker 12 (01:12:56):
My throat, if I can't count on getting thirty five,
what do I have to hold them to?

Speaker 7 (01:13:02):
You know?

Speaker 12 (01:13:02):
And like what style do I have to play? So
it's all complimentary. That's the beauty of football. But as
much as them not running the ball surprised me, it
was the fact that they didn't then Arizona State did,
and that is a Texas defense.

Speaker 3 (01:13:17):
I don't know.

Speaker 12 (01:13:18):
I just don't expect that from them. That is not
something I expect to see and if you do it,
I mean, it has to be an all world effort,
and I'll get Skettaboo all the credit in the world.

Speaker 3 (01:13:26):
But here's the problem.

Speaker 12 (01:13:28):
Ohio State's got a few of those dudes too. I'm
not disrespecting Cam Skettubo. I'm talking about in the aggregate.
They got Jeremiah Smith out there, they got a BUCA,
they got Henderson in the backfield. I mean, they got
they They've got players everywhere, and that offensive line has
taken a couple of huge hits which you thought may
have been detrimental. And you can't even tell right now, Washington,

(01:13:50):
you can't even tell.

Speaker 4 (01:13:52):
Josh Pate again joining us here on the Seawan Salisbury Show,
Dan Matthews, Brian a Lima, Triple E, Emmanuel Elmore.

Speaker 2 (01:13:58):
Find them on Twitter at Josh Pate FB.

Speaker 4 (01:14:00):
He's the host of Josh Pays College Football Show, and
again you can find it. It's on YouTube social media,
CBS Sports HQ, part of CBS Sports. And you know, Josh,
I mean, I don't want to put the cart too
far ahead of the horse, because I mean there's still
a season. He's still playing and Quinn Ewers is the
quarterback at Texas. But I mean, we do this all

(01:14:22):
the time. We look to the future and people want
to go ahead and start the arch Manning experience. So
let's just say, for the sake of argument right here,
Texas wins next Friday night against Ohio State, they go
play in the National Championship Game.

Speaker 2 (01:14:36):
And let's say they play Notre Dame and they win
that game.

Speaker 4 (01:14:39):
Are we really looking at a scenario where people at
Texas could tell Quinn, hey, man, it's been awesome, but
it's time for this guy now.

Speaker 3 (01:14:47):
Yeah, I do think so.

Speaker 12 (01:14:49):
I think that's the situation in a few places right now.
I don't know what Alabama's even gonna do, but I
don't necessarily know that. You know, Jalen Road just had
a door swinging wide open for him to come back
and start again if he wanted it.

Speaker 3 (01:15:04):
So that's the way it happened.

Speaker 12 (01:15:06):
And look, they don't even have an arch Manning sitting
behind him at Alabama. But I just think there's such
a there's a need to keep things moving, keep the
water moving through the pipe, so to speak, in college football,
And when you recruit like Texas, I mean, you stat
quarterback talent like that. Everybody has looked forward to this

(01:15:27):
arch Manning the Manning family like they've handled it the
right way, which is not a surprise, but it's all
been with the understanding that twenty twenty five and beyond
that's the year that's when that era starts. I think
Queen Ewers understands that as well. So then you, of course,
like you mentioned the storybook, like part two of that
was always and it makes sense because.

Speaker 3 (01:15:49):
He'll go to the draft.

Speaker 12 (01:15:50):
Well if he doesn't, you know, if he doesn't like
the feedback he gets, but the season just ended in
storybook fashion, then that's normally just a script for you
to do what Carson back did come back to school. Well,
if you got the situation Texas has, that's a little
bit different storybook. So you've got a multiple scenarios there.
None of them would surprise me. The only one that

(01:16:12):
would really surprise me a lot is if he were
back starting for Texas again next year.

Speaker 4 (01:16:17):
A couple more minutes again with Josh Pate of CBS
Sports Josh Pay's College Football Show. You can view its
every Sunday Tuesday Thursday, eight pm Eastern as part of
CBS Sports. CBS Sports HQ YouTube is also another place
that you can be able to catch the show. Let's
talk about yesterday. I mean I mentioned it at the

(01:16:39):
top of our conversation. What happened in New Orleans, Georgia
Notre Dame. Did you come away from that game necessarily
saying Notre Dame flat out they just they beat him.
They were more physical, they were more athletic, or did
you say that Georgia was the one who really made
it easier for Notre Dame to come out the way
they did.

Speaker 3 (01:16:57):
No, that's Notre Dame.

Speaker 12 (01:16:59):
That is totally Notre Dame. I know that turnovers ended
up being a difference, but if you'll notice, they were
very very much forced turnovers. I mean, Notre Dames got
after them.

Speaker 3 (01:17:10):
Notre Dame.

Speaker 12 (01:17:10):
I'm surprised they didn't force more turnovers than they did, honestly,
and they played authentic to their brand, so it wasn't
some one off performance. I think a lot of people
dan have not watched Notre Dame play a lot. I
think they watched them in the late fourth quarter against
Northern Illinois because they got alerted that there was an
upset underway, so they may have seen that. They saw

(01:17:32):
him in Week one against a and m but after that,
they've just seen box scores in the highlights. Well, this
is how Notre Dame plays. And they did two things that, boy,
I don't know if I've ever said in conjunction. They
out hit and out coached Georgia, and that isn't look yet.
It is a little bit of a knock on Georgia,

(01:17:53):
but it is a supreme compliment to Notre Dame. And
so my question anytime someone relies heavily on turnovers and
special teams and defense and you can get ninety yards
passing from your quarterback and still win, I wonder is
that duplicable? Is it scalable when you go play better
teams in this case in the playoffs. Well, they just

(01:18:15):
did it two times, and they really needed it against Georgia,
and they did it that they'll need it again against
Penn State, and they'll need it again if they get
past them, if they.

Speaker 3 (01:18:26):
Don't win another game.

Speaker 12 (01:18:27):
It's been a phenomenal ride this year for them, but
I think that they are uniquely equipped to be the
crowbar in the bicycle spokes to a really good offense.
So I'm kind of excited to see that because if
it's Notre Dame that ends up going to the final.
You have such a clash in styles and it feels
a lot like Michigan from the past couple of years

(01:18:48):
when they would face these teams. You think, all Michigan
can't completely slow down that offense. Well, that's not the
way the sport works. If you have the right kind
of defense, you can face an elite offense and it
goes from clicking to completely grind to a halt. Thus
the crowbar and the bicycle spokes theory.

Speaker 4 (01:19:04):
Gets you out the door on this. I mean, we
know who these teams are at this point. I mean
you're going to have Texas, Ohio States, and the Cotton Bowl.
You're going to have Penn State Notre Dame in the
other How are you seeing these games go? I mean,
how do you think that we are? Who do you
think that we're going to see in Atlanta playing for
it all?

Speaker 12 (01:19:21):
So I am going to make a little adjustment in
my calculus here with Ohio State. I know how this
sport works. I know if you played your off brand
like Texas just did, and the other guy plays the
best two games that he could possibly play. College football
normally says there's a progression and regression to the memes,

(01:19:44):
and that's why.

Speaker 6 (01:19:45):
That line's not ten. That's why it's five and a half.

Speaker 12 (01:19:49):
I am going to be proven wrong by Ohio State
losing from this point out because I just picked Oregon
and got humiliated out in California. So I don't want
to do that again. So I am going to pick
Ohio State until further notice, and then I don't know.

Speaker 6 (01:20:05):
Dan.

Speaker 12 (01:20:05):
I slightly lean Penn State against Notre Dame, but that's
the one I hadn't made my mind up on yet.
Not to say I couldn't be talked back into Texas,
but I feel a little more seventy thirty confident there
a Notre Dame Pen State. I have not I have
not really landed on anything. So if you have some ideas,
feel free to text.

Speaker 2 (01:20:23):
Continue there we go.

Speaker 4 (01:20:25):
Josh Bate yesterday with us on the Sean Salisbury Show.
I teased it earlier, and if we want to get
back into a little bit of the Texans and Rockets conversation,
that's absolutely available.

Speaker 2 (01:20:37):
But also to want to throw some.

Speaker 4 (01:20:39):
Astros at you as well, as I mentioned, there was
a I guess we could say report out there that
the Astros were still in on someone, but as I
also said, there's a chaser to that too.

Speaker 2 (01:20:52):
And it is a little bit of cold water.

Speaker 4 (01:20:54):
So we'll discuss that on the other side here as
we close out this edition of Space City Saturday. Dan
Matthews here with you on your home of the Astros
and the Rockets. Sports Talk seven.

Speaker 1 (01:21:03):
Ninety Welcome back to Space City Saturday.

Speaker 3 (01:21:08):
Fine Sports Talk seven ninety.

Speaker 2 (01:21:10):
Sports Talk seven ninety, Space City Saturday.

Speaker 4 (01:21:13):
A few more minutes with you here. So it's been
a fun show today. I've enjoyed everybody who has hopped aboard.
If you want to get in here on the final
few minutes, you can do so someone three two one
two five seven ninety. Once again, that's seven one three
two one two five seven nine zero. So the Astros,
I think many of us can agree. Who's gonna be

(01:21:33):
your left fielder this season? You've got a pretty sizeable
void out there, and even with the trade of Kyle
Tucker earlier this offseason that you probably have one out
and right field just with the production that's going out
the door.

Speaker 2 (01:21:47):
And I understand they're.

Speaker 4 (01:21:48):
Hoping for a bounce back season from Chas McCormick, and
we know what Jake Myers is out there in centerfield,
so left field pretty crucial for the Astros to be
able to lock down. And at least as of right now,
you've heard Dana Brown throw out platoon opportunities out there.
All in all, as it stands right now, this is
probably the worst offensive outfield in baseball. I mean, if

(01:22:08):
it's not the worst, it's one of the worst. And
it's something that I think needs to be addressed one
way or another. And I know that people have a
pretty strong wish list out there. And Hector Gomez, who
is with Demonica, he is a Major League Baseball insider
and he is down in the Dominican Republic and he

(01:22:31):
has broken news before, but he threw out that the
Astros are the biggest threats to the Blue Jays in
the Anthony Santander sweepstakes, while the Angels have offered a
similar offer that the Jays have, and he was reporting
a few days ago that the Jays offered to Santander
was four years, eighty two million dollars. And there's a

(01:22:51):
lot more that goes into this. There is the Astros
where they stand currently at the competitive balance tax, which
according to fangrafts. The threshold is at about two hundred
and forty one million, and the Astros are just north
of to forty four. There are different thresholds that you
can hit with the competitive balance tax all of that,
where you start to lose international slot money as well

(01:23:14):
as even possibly losing out on draft picks, which the
Astros definitely don't want to have happen after the cheating
scandal punishment that they got for losing a couple of
years of high round draft picks. But Ari Alexander somebody
that trusts and I think many of you trust when
it comes to the Astros and just baseball and just

(01:23:37):
being able to get information on all of those fronts.
Throwing out the Anthony santan Dare is a player who
has similar teams interested and this was a thread that
he had of talking about where things currently stand with
Alex Bregman, which I think we can agree with the
addition of Christian Walker and Eat zac Paritis in the
trade that the Bregman tenure with the Astros is done.

Speaker 2 (01:24:00):
I don't see them.

Speaker 4 (01:24:01):
Pulling off any surprise shades of what was it two
thousand and four when they went out and got Jeff Kent,
and you're wondering, Okay, well then what are you gonna
do with that bigio guy at second base? So we'll
just put him out in the outfield him. That's what
the Astros did. But throwing out that Santander, a player
who is has similar teams interested, with the Detroit Tigers

(01:24:22):
and Toronto Blue Jays showing interest in the switch hitting outfielder.
Toronto has an offer out to Santander. Elague source tells
Ari Alexander La Angels also interested, but throwing out through
a league source that the Astros are an unlikely landing
spot with Bregman talked about the Tigers, the Red Sox
Toronto Blue Jays being described as very very real possibilities

(01:24:46):
for Bregman, as those are the three teams that have
emerged as serious suitors for the Astros.

Speaker 2 (01:24:52):
Look, I mean, I think that this.

Speaker 4 (01:24:53):
Is a situation where the Astros definitely want to improve
out in left field, and I've heard different names out
there floated around.

Speaker 2 (01:25:00):
I've thrown out one that I think could.

Speaker 4 (01:25:02):
Possibly work for the Astros, and that is Adam Duvall,
a guy that when he's played at Minute May Park
has hit incredibly well, either his time with the Reds,
the Braves, you know, most recently with the Red Sox two.
And another reason that I think he would be a
great fit here. He's a guy that has experienced playing
all three outfield spots and even at times when he

(01:25:24):
was with the Braves played center field for them. So
I mean that's somebody that gives you, you know, positional
versatility out there in the outfield and the last parts.
And this is the part that I know for fans
when you hear this, it's kind of a little bit
of in one year out the other. Maybe even some
eye rolls go with it because it's like, all right, great,
he's a great clubhouse guy. But you have to factor

(01:25:46):
that in when you talk about what the Astros have
lost this offseason. You know, for sure Kyle Tucker is
not going to be here, and you know really relatively
for sure that Alex Bregman's not going to be here.
But those are two guys, at least in Bregman's front,
that provided a lot of leadership inside that clubhouse and
somebody that was a veteran presence in that clubhouse. And
I think for Tucker, more than anything, he was just

(01:26:08):
incredibly popular in that clubhouse, just a really genuine good guy.

Speaker 2 (01:26:11):
Everybody really liked him.

Speaker 4 (01:26:13):
And also too, he was an outstanding player for this team,
So that is something that probably needs to be factored in.
And Duvall, from all accounts, everybody I've ever talked with
is absolutely that guy and provides all of that with
the Astros or excuse me, with whatever team he's on.

Speaker 2 (01:26:28):
So I think he's a possibility.

Speaker 4 (01:26:31):
And I mean it just kind of determines what do
the Astros want to do. I mean, what happens with
Ryan Presley. Does that kind of free up some money
if you're able to move him before the end of
the offseason, and that allows for you to be able
to add more of an impact bat out there in
the outfield. But as it stands right now, you like
the moves the Astros have made, but I just would
like to have more of an option than just hey

(01:26:53):
maybe Mauricio Dubon, Hey maybe this guy out in the
out and left field. That to me does not signal
the team being in position to compete in twenty twenty
five if you don't shore that up. So only time
will tell. Again, all right, that's gonna do it? For
us here on Space City Saturday. I want to thank
Melvin Brown for his work as always want to think
all of you out there who hopped aboard as I'm

(01:27:14):
Dan Matthews. This has been Space City Saturday. We'll talk
to you all next week, and we'll talk to you
all week right here on your home of the Astros
and the Rockets, Sports Talk seven ninety

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